Dubai World

Dubai World, a holding company for the Persian Gulf state of Dubai, is taking a larger stake in casino projects on the Las Vegas Strip with partner MGM Mirage Inc., the companies said Tuesday. A subsidiary of Dubai World's investment arm, Istithmar Hotels FZE, will take a $300-million, 25% stake in a joint venture that MGM Mirage had announced in June with Kerzner International Holdings to develop a multibillion-dollar resort on the Strip, they said.

Rory McIlroy moved to the top of the leaderboard with a five-under 67 Friday in the second round of the Dubai World Championship in the United Arab Emirates. The top-ranked golfer, who missed several makable putts on the front nine and then had an eagle putt roll past the hole on No. 14, tied Luke Donald (68) and Marc Warren (67) at 11-under 133. Sergio Garcia , playing for the first time since having laser eye surgery, matched the course record with an eight-under 64. Garcia started with four birdies on his first five holes and then had a string of birdies at the turn before holing a long putt for eagle on No. 14. But he shot into the water on No. 16 for a triple-bogey before recovering to finish with a birdie and eagle.

The Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai anted up Wednesday, announcing it would invest $5.1 billion in MGM Mirage for a 50% stake in the massive Las Vegas CityCenter project now in development and a 10% interest in the gaming company. The deal continues Dubai's investments in name-brand and hospitality destinations around the world, but also infuses Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage with cash to quickly pursue other projects without being laden with debt.

Monterosso won the $10-million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race, handing the ruler of Dubai an emotional victory after one of his horses was euthanized earlier Saturday. Monterosso, who finished third last year, also gave a much-needed confidence boost to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's stables, which had not won the race since 2006. All four of their horses were longshots. Capponi grabbed the lead coming into the straight only to see Monterosso bolt past and beat his stablemate by three lengths.

MGM Mirage and Dubai World failed to reach agreement with Deutsche Bank and talks on a $1.2-billion loan to complete the Las Vegas CityCenter project collapsed, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Deutsche Bank was seeking equity and debt stakes in the $11.2-billion development on the Las Vegas Strip in return for the loan. MGM Mirage and Dubai World are now holding talks with other parties, one of the people said.

Casino resort operator MGM Mirage and government investment holding company Dubai World announced Wednesday they would launch a cash tender offer to repurchase up to 10 million MGM Mirage common shares for $75 to $80 each.

Dubai World's offer to buy 14.2 million shares of MGM Mirage, the world's second-largest casino company, expired with investors selling less than 3% of the stock the firm was seeking. The investment company, run by Dubai's government, said Monday that it would still buy 14.2 million MGM shares directly from the Las Vegas-based company at $84 each. The firm said last week that it might purchase more stock on the open market.

Two government-owned investment firms in Dubai have acquired a 20% stake in the colorful Canadian acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil, furthering the desert city's plans to expand its tourism appeal and lengthening its list of foreign investments. Istithmar World, the investment arm of Dubai World, and real estate developer Nakheel said Wednesday that they bought the stake in the Montreal-based group for an undisclosed sum. Under the deal, the rest of the business will remain under the ownership of Guy Laliberte, founder of the troupe known for mixing traditional circus acts with dance, music and theater.

Manny Mashhoud has done well investing in U.S. stocks for two decades, but the Glendale insurance executive fears that the country's economy could be restrained for several years by high unemployment and the lingering trauma of the recession. So he's sharply boosting his investments in overseas markets and is even setting up a brokerage account so he can buy and sell stocks directly on foreign exchanges. "The advantages of the foreign markets substantially outweigh what we have here," Mashhoud said.

Abu Dhabi rescued debt-ridden Dubai on Monday with a $10-billion bailout package that lifted world financial markets but left unclear how the glittering emirate by the sea would recover from investors' jitters and a troubled real estate market. The plan provides $4.1 billion to repay a bond that matured Monday for developer Nakheel, which is controlled by state-owned Dubai World. The intervention by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the most influential state in the United Arab Emirates, was an attempt to save its fellow emirate and to prevent a prolonged financial crisis from rippling across the region.

EARNINGS Oracle's profit falls, sales rise Oracle Corp. reported third-quarter profit that met analysts' estimates after customers bought programs they had delayed buying during the recession. Profit before acquisition and some other costs was 38 cents a share, matching analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Including deferred revenue from Sun Microsystems Inc., which Oracle acquired in January, sales were $6.47 billion. Analysts estimated $6.32 billion. Net income fell to $1.19 billion, or 23 cents a share, from $1.33 billion, or 26 cents, a year earlier.

The euro declined on world markets Monday, nearing a nine-month low against the dollar, on a revival of worries about debt woes in Greece and Dubai. But stocks in Europe and emerging markets gained. U.S. markets were closed for Presidents Day, and exchanges in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. Brazil's market was closed for Carnival festivities. Metal prices rose after Goldman Sachs said China's growth was fast enough that the government might let the yuan strengthen as much as 5% to curb inflation.

The year is a fresh slate before you, so it's time to start filling in those blanks. Here are five ideas for places to be or places to see that will turn your 2010 into a year to remember. And if you have something you think should be on readers' radars, write to us at travel@latimes.com. Oberammergau Passion Play, Germany It happens only once every 10 years and has been going on since 1634. The people of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps, fearing that bubonic plague would sweep the village, promised they would reenact the Passion every decade if God spared them.

Abu Dhabi rescued debt-ridden Dubai on Monday with a $10-billion bailout package that lifted world financial markets but left unclear how the glittering emirate by the sea would recover from investors' jitters and a troubled real estate market. The plan provides $4.1 billion to repay a bond that matured Monday for developer Nakheel, which is controlled by state-owned Dubai World. The intervention by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the most influential state in the United Arab Emirates, was an attempt to save its fellow emirate and to prevent a prolonged financial crisis from rippling across the region.

In their first full day of trading after the disclosure of Dubai's debt trouble, U.S. financial markets appeared to conclude Monday that the crisis wouldn't derail the budding global economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average fluctuated sharply during the day, and at one point was down almost 50 points, before finishing with a moderate gain of almost 35 points. U.S. bank stocks surged, reflecting growing confidence that banks in this country don't have hidden time bombs related to the Persian Gulf emirate.

The flashy spendthrift needs his prim, conservative neighbor to bail him out. Such is the situation between debt-ridden Dubai and flush Abu Dhabi, two Persian Gulf emirates with starkly different financial strategies and temperaments that may grudgingly need each other to prevent long-term investor panic from spreading beyond the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's $80-billion debt, nearly $60 billion of it held by the investment conglomerate Dubai World, is testament to the emirate's overextended reliance on a real estate market whose fortunes tumbled in the global downturn.

Dubai is a clever blend of audacity and architecture, a shiny monument to the egos and ambition that turned a tiny emirate into a Middle East financial giant. Russian oligarchs stroll along man-made islands shaped like palm trees, and sheiks race down a ski slope built inside a shopping mall. Lacking the oil reserves of the emirate's neighbors, Dubai's ruling family created a parallel economic reality fueled by real estate, international investment and the art of the possible. The emirate was fashioned into a sleek cityscape of startling images: Islam balanced against the seduction of Western capitalism, and tribal traditions brushing the fleeting trends of globalization.